CLOSED to Kon | Click here to find out if you're a Betty or Veronica

[mostdangerousbird]

Who: Tim Drake mostdangerousbird & Kon-El lowercase_el
What: Tim wants Kon to check out this super cool and in no way suspicuous personality test.
When: Today
Where: Their apartment
Content Warnings: Will update if needed



[ It's quite late. 7 AM, actually, and Tim is usually in bed by 4. Instead, he's at his computer, juggling browsers and tabs to get everything arranged just right. Websites that shouldn't be open, but he may want to come back to are timmarked It's like bookmarked, but instead of clicking the icon, he copies the URL to a plain text file on his desktop so the links won't accidentally follow him around on a phone or other device. The general idea is looking like he stayed up late reading up on something and then got caught up in something fun and interesting to people named Tim, but just a bit boring. That seems to fit with how Kon views Tim's interests.

The personality quiz - What Are Your Chances of Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse - is on the last question and ready to be submitted when Kon wakes up. Tim has already taken it multiple times to fully troubleshoot it and knows that he will receive a 64% chance of survivability, which will label him as Zombie Snak: White Castle Edition with a couple sentences explaining that he's probably still dead meat, but they're going to have to work for it. It's a good, but not unbeatable score, and the result is funny despite having to get through 100 sometimes dry questions on this, the self-proclaimed "MOST ACCURATE ZOMBIE QUIZ EVER".

He's not sure if he's on his fifth cup of coffee, or his first, that's how far the lines between Wednesday-Thursday-Friday are currently blurred. Between patrols, work, and designing a third online quiz capable of spitting out a meme results and sending Tim a copy of the responses to certain questions so that he can use them to complete an application to immigrate to Xinthal on Kon's behalf, just in case.

It's pretty tricky to create a quiz thats land on fun and interesting and a bit boring but not tooboring, and this is the . If Tim nails the snore too hard, Kon won't make it through the quiz, and this is his best opportunity to sneak in more agricultural questions tucked in amongst the "real" questions, stolen from various other online quiz makers. The first two quizzes he made - I Can Guess What Kind of Soup You Like Based on Where You Want to Vacation (he hates himself for that one because that is not something that equates, but he did want to make sure that an island nation wouldn't be too much of a reminder of Hawaii and CADMUS) and Are You a Geordi or a Data - had built up to this one, both in length and dryness.

Tim sips his coffee. If this works, he should probably do it for Bart as well. Even if he's in the Alliance, there's no guarantee that everything will go smoothly. The metahuman climate is escalating quickly towards what Starling had described, and Tim would prefer his friends have a legal exit strategy.

For now, all that's left is to wait for Kon to wake up, click submit, complain about the results until Kon takes it himself and then, finally, sleep..

Comments

[lowercase_el]

I get that you think this is going to protect me, I get that. But it doesn't change that the way you do this stuff sometimes is so messed up!

[The "so messed up" is more emotional than angry. It's frustration at being manipulated and hurt that Tim would try it knowing about his issues of being controlled.]

It's not even just doing the stupid application without me knowing. You set up a fake quiz to get me to answer the questions, then tried to manipulate me into taking it. Do you really not get how screwed up that is?

[Sometimes it feels like Tim is inches nearby but somehow a million miles away.]

I don't like to be tricked, Tim! I don't like being manipulated. I don't like people trying to control me and decide what I'm doing. It's my life.

I get to choose the direction. I get to choose the risk. That's mine.

[He hates when people try to control him. The whole rebel thing is what his friends know as being an essential part of him and the truth of it is that it was just basic necessity. It wasn't something he learned to do to try to be a stronger person, he had to learn to rebel just to control his own destiny and be his own person, in a way none of his friends will ever be able to fully understand.]

[What had Waller said that one time? "Let him speak. It'll help me learn if he's gone defective and needs to be locked in a warehouse with the rest of our damaged property."]

[ He'd become a rebel to be allowed to just...be.]

Your heart is in the right place, but tricking me into it? That's a Luthor move. [Shots fired.] And I'm not putting up with it.

[There's a flash of blue teke and the papers erupt into shreds in his hands, then fall to the floor.]

[And he's not the one that's going to pick them up.]

If you try it again I'll just have it revoked.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ He does absorb much of the lecture. He deserves it - how many times has he seen Bruce overstep the rights and concerns of other Justice League members? The objections aren’t invalid.

When you get caught, it doesn’t matter if you’re right. Tim was sloppy and put too much faith in Kon not noticing because Kon hadn’t noticed. This is no one’s fault but his.

It’s fixable. He can get Kon to agree, or do it without him knowing. It won’t be any more manipulative than what’s already occurred. Tim has the information he needs on the server now. He can recreate the forms. It’s fine. He’ll be the Luthor here. If it ends up being needed, Kon can hate him all he wants, but he’ll be safe and Tim will try not to be fucking smug about it and -

He’d been watching the scraps fall to the ground when Kon threatens to revoke the citizenship if Tim does it anyway. Like he followed every step of Tim’s thought process.

Tim’s not mad or malicious. He thinks he should feel sick, but there’s just… nothing. Kon’s so determined to be an idiot that he’s willing to outright sabotage Tim’s work to prove some stupid noble point, because he’s got to be stupid and noble, and Tim is wrung out, all hope of a failsafe gone. ]

Letting someone get what they need and ripping it away? Now that’s a Luthor move.

[ He delivers it numbly and without emphasis. With no real plan, he stands there blankly, his eyebrows pinching together. Eventually, he starts looking for his shoes. ]

[lowercase_el]

[It's the equivalent of a nuclear bomb dropped on the conversation.]

[Maybe if it weren't so personal, maybe if Luthor hadn't broken him so much to bend him to his will, maybe if it wasn't a hotbed of semi-recent trauma he'd catch the "get what they need" part. Maybe then he'd understand that doing something like this is emotional armor for someone deeply, deeply traumatized.][But it's still too much of a grenade drop. There isn't just anger, there's actual hurt. When Kon said it, he was trying to get Tim to understand what it was making him feel like, and yes, that meant it was dramatic. But this feels like Tim just intending to hurt.]

[His expression makes it clear the hit landed. His voice is quaking with emotion when he speaks.]

I know you want to wrap me up in cotton, but you can't.

I'm going to take risks and it's probably going to suck. Like I'm going to out Guardian as a clone and tell people why I'm not joining a Guild. Because the clones here need to see they deserve to come out of the dark.

I don't do hiding in the shadows, Tim. Because I can't live that way and be me.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ He’s aware of the impact crater. That’s why Tim’s trying to put himself together enough to not look like a person in crisis when he leaves, because that’s how he feels.

And he shouldn’t. There’s no one physically hurt, and all threats are theoretical in a vaguely defined future. Then, why does Tim feel like he has to trach himself to breathe? Why is he locked into this fight or flight response? He doesn’t know, and he doesn’t want to know because analyzing it won’t lead to anything good.

So. Shoes. Hoodie. He keeps face to the door and his back to Kon and acts like he’s not listening. But he is.

And the threat to out Guardian as a clone hits for total devastation. The guilds’ response to the Featherlight clones - the world’s opinions on clones in general - that’s why Tim is doing this. Fear of what could happen if it becomes common knowledge. Kon’s not only wrecking Tim’s plans; he’s going to bring about the worst case scenario himself. Tim actually sways. ]

You can’t.

[ He sounds wrecked. Like Kon just flicked away any mask he had until it blinged off into the horizon like Team Rocket. Does he have to beg for Kon to have one damn iota of common sense? ]

I mean, you can. You don’t have to be their example. They already have a better example than you: Frances Starling. And they don’t want her, Kon! They’ve got hundreds of martyrs already. They’ve made it very clear that unregistered metahumans are sub-human and aren’t entitled to human rights unless they deign to give them. Just - this isn’t your fight. Just be a normal hero until we can all go home!

[ His phone. He can get Kon’s phone and lock him out of his accounts. No. Get him perma-banned. Has Kon ever logged in on Tim’s computer? Could Tim get into it that way?

Too risky. Has to be the phone. He has to pick Kon’s pockets. How can he cover it? He can’t go for a bump; it would stand out too much, and no crowds to hide any other accidental touching either. A hug would be weird, unless -

What difference does pride make, when Kon’s apparently actively trying to make himself a target and invulnerability’s not as invulnerable as advertised? Tim ducks his head down and lets wet eyes spill over into tears. It’s the opposite of hard. He just has to stop trying not to cry. God, he really is as manipulative as Kon thinks he is. ]

[lowercase_el]

Tim...

[ His expression softens. ]

Look, I know it's -

I know it's risky, I just -

This is what we do. Anyone that wears the S. This is who we are. Sometimes, someone has to be the example, and stand up for people that barely anyone else is helping...

[And he can't argue this while Tim's crying.]

Tim, I'm sorry. I just need to do this.

[He goes over to hug him. Slowly, to see if he even accepts it.]

[mostdangerousbird]

[ He didn’t mean to cry this hard. It’s like a leak springing in a water pipe. Once sprung, just putting his thumb over the hole isn’t going to stop anything. It’s all just compounding.

Tim doesn’t like crying, or being vulnerable, so the very act is making the act work, like a high pressure leak further damaging the pipeline.

Doesn’t like it when people are stupid. Kon is, for this phenomenally bad idea. Tim is, for surrendering to tears over it.

Doesn’t like not being in control, and he’s not even control of himself right now, so how can he be in control of the situation?

It’s some stupid genetic quirk to make Tim question nature over nurture when he’s not wrapping one arm himself to steady himself. As for Kon coming in for a hug? Truth be told, Tim’s not even looking. He’s trying to process this mess. The plan is currently get the phone, get out, and try not to get into a motorcycle accident, but it’s getting lost in the chaff.

I know it’s risky. As he continues to justify making boneheaded plans to lead an equal rights fight, because of course he is, why wouldn’t he? There really isn’t going to be any way to stop him, barring kryptonite or an equally heavyweight meta getting involved.

Someone else can be the example this time. Someone else can be the one who gets beaten to death and their friends can kneel over them and wonder if they’re cold because it’s the Arctic or because it’s too late for CPR and know because their brain just never stops that Superman would’ve tried if the internal damage wasn’t so significant as to make it a lost cause. Someone else can know what that kind of hopeless feels like.

Feels like right now. It’s not irrational. It’s not. The government has only a tenuous control on the metahuman population, and they’re not going to take this lightly. He’d argue, but no one listens to people when they’re this upset. Kon wouldn’t listen even if Tim was perfectly composed, he’s built from moral conviction. ]

[lowercase_el]

[ Since Tim is pretty much curling in on himself, Kon doesn't feel right about going in for a hug, but he does place his hand on his shoulders. ]

[ It's close enough to make a grab for the phone - and Tim probably would succeed if Kon hadn't always decided he was going to sticky the thing in his pocket with teke for the next little while. Just in case. ]

It doesn't have to just be thoughtless, okay? Like if you want to put gps trackers in my socks - provided you don't already have some in there - I'm all for it. Anything that'd let Bart be there in half a heartbeat we can do.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ It’s just so -

Perfunctory.

Tim thinks about the way Kon and their other old teammates have hugged him in the past. Hugged - more like tackled. Yes, those were joyous, and this is not. But even Bruce hugs better than this, when he has reason to suspect Tim needs it.

As it’s his own fault that he’s this upset (his plans plural, his fears, his damage), Tim doesn’t have the grounds or tools to ask for a comforting hug. He shoves Kon away, better nothing than pity. ]

Don’t.

[ And there is a grab for the phone lost in the push. Despite getting his fingers on it, he couldn’t lift it. Damn it.

Frustrated, alone, and with no cards left to play, Tim will head for the door. ]

GPS trackers won’t stop everything.

[ He needs to be anywhere else. Lick his wounds in private and figure out how to stop this. Maybe Steph would help - she’s gone to extreme measures to protect herself. ]

[lowercase_el]

[Kon doesn't go after him. It's pretty clear he hadn't want to be touched and he can only imagine how much worse his reaction would've been if Kon had outright hugged him, held him the way he wanted to.]

[He doesn't have long to feel terrible about it before he feels the tug on his phone and knows that yes, he had reason to keep a tight hold on it.]

[ Anger flares on top of the guilt of making Tim cry. ]

[ Is this really where they're at? ]

[Why is this so hard? He thought all he had to do was get back home, with his family, and with his friends, and then everything would be okay again. It'd be like it was before. Or at least a different he could adapt to like he had to adapt to everything.]

[But it hasn't been like that at all. The world forgot him and moved on. The thing he'd been waiting his whole life for, had dreamed about, got handed to someone else and it seemed like it happened without a thought. (Someone more legitimate, someone who was actually wanted.) And things with Tim are...fraught sometimes. Hard.]

[It's easier with Bart because he and Bart don't have multiple timelines bouncing around their heads. Things have changed over time, especially after Bart became Kid Flash, but navigating the new Bart isn't impossible even if sometimes it's deceptively more difficult than it seems.]

[Also, most importantly, Bart wasn't the one left alone in his grief. He felt one loss, but he was the second. (Or really, the fifth, when you count the others like Steph and all three of Tim's parents.) ]

[Kon stands there, shoulders drooping, too angry to just cave into Tim's demands or forgive the boundaries he crossed, but also not wanting to make him more miserable.]

[So he just...lets him go. Without a word. Instead he bends off to clean the shreds of the application off the floor.]

[mostdangerousbird]

[ Tim bolts once he’s in the hallway, a brisk walk turning into a job down the stairs, and a run to where he’s stashed the motorcycle today.

He just wants to get clear. Of the apartment. Of Kon. Of … whatever set this off, because it wasn’t just the papers.

Kon can still hear him, if he wants to. He has to be mindful of that, so he takes the time to breathe and bring his heart rate down before driving off. If only he knew where he was going. ]